Significant activity has taken place in the field of energy generation, providing newer more efficient and cleaner sources of power. Conventional technologies are directed to harnessing various clean energy sources. Currently, attempts to capture energy from various clean sources (e.g., water, wind, and solar) are varied and far-reaching.
Generally, energy sources can be divided into two categories: limited and unlimited. The limited sources, e.g., crude oil, natural gas, and coal, provide a great amount of output, and can be stored and transported conveniently with current infrastructure. For example, gasoline by itself is a good energy source and easily stored. This is in large part because of the infrastructure that has developed to refine and transport gasoline, which is a relatively compact liquid energy source. These limited sources, however, present many problems. One of the main problems is the environmental impact caused by excessive consumption of these limited sources of energy. Presently, it is thought that consumption of these resources causes global warming, air pollution, noise and soil pollution. Of even greater concern is the limited amount of these resources. Various estimates have been made to determine when these energy resources will be finally depleted.
Unlimited sources of energy may include, for example, solar, wind, wave, and tidal power. These sources are abundant, will never run out, and may be harnessed with minimal environmental damage. Notwithstanding, there are a number of difficulties presented in capturing energy from these unlimited sources. For example, solar energy production requires consistently available sunlight. Wind farms require a consistent wind source. Simply put, unlimited energy sources are vulnerable to changing environmental conditions.
Conventional approaches to providing energy through either type of source (limited and unlimited) typically approach the problem from the perspective of energy generation, and often fails to address the problem of storing any produced energy.
The concept of generating potential energy by lifting objects is well known in the field of energy generation and storage. However, the typical release of such potential energy is unsuitable for commercial use of power. An object falling under the influence of gravity falls far too quickly to produce sustainable levels of energy needed for every day use.
Other systems for storing energy have not been widely implemented. Springs, for example, are also well known for their ability to store energy, but implementing spring driven systems to provide commercially viable energy supplies have been largely unsuccessful. Flywheel systems have been implemented to store vast amounts of energy for use in high speed discharges. However, the expense and complexity of such flywheel systems have limited their implementations to specialized projects. Chemical based systems are under development, but again have not been widely implemented. Other systems and methods have faired a little better in establishing commercially successful operation.